Minneapolis, MN – Several hundred community members gathered at the Hennepin County Government Center on January 9 in below freezing weather, to rally and march for justice for Jacob Blake, who was shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Dolal Idd, shot and killed by Minneapolis police.

On January 5, prosecutors in Kenosha announced that they would not bring charges against the officer who shot Blake in the back seven times this past August. Black Lives Matter-Minnesota had planned an emergency rally for the day after that announcement. However, as Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in DC, organizers decided to delay that emergency rally and join forces with CAIR Minnesota’s rally for Dolal Idd.

Dolal Idd, a Somali American man who was 23 years old, is the latest homicide victim of the Minneapolis Police Department. Police killed him on December 30, within a mile of the place George Floyd was killed.

Several activists and community members spoke in front of the government center to start the rally. The crowd then marched through downtown and then to the Minneapolis Police Department’s 1st Precinct station, where several of Dolal’s family members and activists spoke, before everyone marched back to the government center.

Attendees chanted and held up signs, some of which had pictures of Idd on them, calling for “Justice for Dolal Idd.”

Dolal’s father, Bayle Gelle, spoke in front of the 1st Precinct building. He said that police lied about his son being a felon and said that he and others still have so many questions surrounding Dolal Idd’s murder. “I will never give up until we get justice,” he said of his son’s death at the hands of police.

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Center for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), shared that community members are learning more details about Idd’s case every day, such as law enforcement’s use of confidential informants. Hussein expressed his frustration over how law enforcement has handled Idd’s case and the cases of other individuals killed by police in Minnesota.

“It’s a closed system. It starts with the police officer, but then it goes quickly to the investigators, who continue to lie,” Hussein said. “Why can’t they show all the video that they have collected? Why do they only show us the one angle that they want us to see? So they can project the one narrative they want us to see.”

Hussein asked that anyone who has any information about what happened the night Dolal was killed to please share this information, and to not be intimidated by law enforcement. He said that he and others would have the backs of anyone who does so.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, civil rights activist and Minneapolis attorney, spoke for the Racial Justice Network about law enforcement’s actions leading up to and following Idd’s murder.

“Dolal Idd would still be alive if they actually followed protocol and procedures,” Levy Armstrong said of police. “They’re thinking they’re cowboys. Jumping out of cars, ambushing people, pulling out guns, putting the public in danger, and then continuing to blame victims of police violence for harm they initiate and harm that they cause.”

Levy Armstrong, Hussein, and other community members also spoke about the lack of justice for Jacob Blake, after he was shot in the back in front of his young children and was subsequently paralyzed.

Loretta VanPelt of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar (TCC4J) spoke about the need for community control of the police, to try to prevent incidents such as the shootings of Dolal Idd and Jacob Blake. “We’ve been demanding community control of the police,” VanPelt said. “We know that will hold these cops accountable for what they have done to this community.”

Speakers at the rally also compared the inaction of law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol earlier in the week, when a mob of white domestic terrorists broke into the Capitol, with the actions of police at rallies in support of Black lives, where police pepper-sprayed, beat and arrested peaceful protesters.

Several community members spoke about an unnamed white man who was killed by police in Robbinsdale the day before, just one week after Dolal Idd was killed by police. Toshira Garraway, founder of the organization Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, said that her organization would host a gathering at the Pump N Munch gas station in Robbinsdale, where this man was killed. Garraway said the gathering was planned for January 13, at 4 p.m., and there was more information about this gathering on the Families Supporting Families Facebook page.

Despite the below-freezing temperature during the rally, attendees marched, chanted and listened to speakers for around three hours. Levy Armstrong spoke to the hardiness of Minnesotans seeking justice. “We in Minnesota, we don’t care how cold it gets. The fire for justice keeps us warm, keeps us burning for justice, standing up and speaking the truth,” she said. “We have to send a message that we’re not going nowhere.”

Saturday’s rally and march were endorsed by TCC4J, Native Lives Matter, MN Youth for Justice, CUAPB, Justice 4 Marcus Golden, Black St Paul, Justice for Cordale Handy, Racial Justice Network, Anti-War Committee, and MN Disability Justice Network.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #JacobBlake #JusticeForDolalIdd

Minneapolis, MN – On January 3, over 1200 people marched in South Minneapolis to demand justice for Dolal Idd, who was killed by the Minneapolis police department on December 30.

The lead organization was the Minnesota Council on Islamic Relations (CAIR), supported by the rest of the anti-police terror movement. The rally started at the spot where Dolal Idd was killed, at the Holiday gas station at 36th Street and Cedar Avenue. The large crowd heard speakers, including Dolal's father, then went on a spirited march to Lake Street and looped back to the starting point. This is the third protest since Idd was murdered.

Monique Cullars Doty, a prominent local activist, spoke about the raid on the Idd family home – which happened before the cops informed them that Dolal Idd had been killed. “I am the aunt of Marcus Golden who was shot in the back of his head while parked in his vehicle. They came and raided my mother’s house to get a gun that he legally owned, some 11 hours later, as they tried to craft their lies [that Marcus was armed when they killed him].”

Cullars Doty made the connection: “I watched the video of this [Idd’s] family in their home at 2 a.m. – door busted down, handcuffed, and the little baby who needs help, the police giving him orders, the officer telling the other child ‘You’re OK.’ No, he’s not OK, because there’s been an invasion! I’m tired of the police trying to tell us how we feel in the face of injustice. This has got to stop. This is what happens when police come into the home to look for evidence because they have to create a justification for murder.”

Loretta Van Pelt and Jess Sundin spoke for Twin Cities Coalition 4 Justice 4 Jamar. In addition to demanding justice for Idd, they called for community control of police, to ensure that the community has the power to get rid of racist and violent cops once and for all.

The crowd continued to swell for hours, with protesters still arriving at the starting point as the march returned to the site. Attendees included a large majority of women and youth, many from the Somali community.

There are still many unanswered questions about the night of December 30, when MPD killed the young Somali American man. It is the second killing of a Black person by the MPD in 2020. It is also the second police murder of a Somali man in about a year and half in Minnesota, after Isak Aden was killed by several police in Eagan in July of 2019.

Much like with the murder of George Floyd, the MPD immediately began their public relations smear campaign, including releasing a 27-second body cam video which doesn’t shed light onto the sequence of events. However, it does show how police penned in Idd and fired several shots into his car as he was ambushed – a fate that is unfortunately all too familiar to Black people across the United States. Unbelievably, a woman who was in the car at the time remained unscathed but unheard from after the incident. The community has many questions regarding the whereabouts of this woman. The community is also demanding answers as to why Hennepin County Sheriff's deputies raided Idd's family home hours after he was murdered.

The Washington Post keeps database of people killed by police terror since 2015, the same year Jamar Clark was killed. Each year they have tracked almost 1000 cases. Again, with the murder of Idd and others the total count stands at 999 across the U.S. for 2020. It is clear that, without a major overhaul to the policing system via community control of the police, we will continue to see high levels of police terror in our communities.

The rally and march ended with additional speeches and the community vowed to continue the fight for justice and police accountability.

#MinneapolisMN #PeoplesStruggles #PoliceBrutality #CouncilOnAmericanIslamicRelations #TwinCitiesCoalition4JusticeForJamarTCC4J #JusticeForDolalIdd